Is Sports Betting Killing Sport

Can you still remember fondly the days when a football game only agreed to be a football game? I mean, it had been a true contest between two rivals and also the fans had no vested interest in how a game will work with all the bookmakers. These were the times when fans were real fans instead of betters. these folks were the days if you knew that match fixing will not happen since there was no financial reason for this. These days, its an extremely different story altogether. In many ways, sport now exist as a result of betting.

While horse racing is definitely a sport that used betting, it's now overshadowed by major sports with mass appeal that's drawing in a lot of interest through the bookmakers. With horse racing, the unknown factor in the horse got something exciting and thrilling plus it added that unpredictable factor which is suited to betting.

When looking at regular sports, we all know that the human factor will probably be involved and also the lure of big money will be at play. When South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje was caught in the match fixing scandal it shook the concept of cricket and sport throughout the world. Many claim that it was only the tip with the iceberg and that he copped it for a great deal of others. With Australians Steve Waugh and sboarena Shane Warne also implicated, the difficulty was quickly swept under the table to avoid wasting face with fans.

How deep and the way wide match mixing really goes no-one is bound to know. The question is whether it really belongs in sport where athletes can fix games. Is it changing sport forever? Is it changing sport to the better? Yes, its driving lots of money into sports but when its dirty money it may just hurt sport permanently and reach a spot where fans lose their confidence inside the honesty of the contest.